Final Fantasy IXPretty much doing the Chocobo world tour to get items. Hmm trying to determine:Eiko vs Garnet?Amarant vs Steiner vs Freya?Quina vs???

The moogle side quest is annoying, I'm missing 2 letters and I don't know where the hell where. I heard the reward kinda sucks though...

Garnet all the way. Dat Ass says it all. But seriously, Eiko simply surpasses Garnet with Madeen, the Carbunkle variations, and Raisega.

Freya, no joke. Though it loses it's uniqueness later on, Dragon Crest is still the fastest way to the damage cap of 9999....

Outside of Quina that is, and it's Angel Whisper/Limit Glove combo. And then there's the other usual Blue Magic shenanigans. Also 100 frogs are no where nearly as irritating to get as 200 lightning bolts since you don't lose all of them if you miss one and is far more rewarding with a sicknasty Frog Drop than a better Onion Knight plushie.

If it's late enough that you actually get a choice in the matter then just go with your favorites.

Meanwhile I ended up getting my shit wrecked in Jade Empire twice in fairly short order. The first from those demons up in Heaven (although the true demon was the camera because all I could see was T&A before getting wrecked by status effects galore) and the second from the cannibal mother boss fight (which hit like a fucking truck shot out of a cannon, and of course Dawn Star just has to pick this moment to take off while the rest of the cavalry decided to sit back and enjoy the show).

Beat Civ V as Ethiopia in one sitting. Prince difficulty. Cultural victory. Four cities. Never touched coal, aluminum, or oil. Never researched nukes. Ethiopia's good at faith/culture and defending the homefront. Now I need sleep.

I've been playing 999 off and on for the past several weeks. I finally got the best ending today. It certainly gave me a lot to think about, to say the least. :P

I picked up a copy of the Mass Effect trilogy collection on PS3, and am currently undertaking the toughest challenge I can think of: go through the entire series without choosing a renegade option. I've been successful so far. I even managed to get through Feros without gunning down innocents. :P

Started Fallout 3 a couple of days ago. It's taken it until now to really 'take', but this morning I completed the 'Bloodlines' side quest and I think I'm starting to get it. Up until now the barren world has been a bit difficult to stomach -- I don't know why, I knew what I was getting into when I ordered it, although the last open world, first person game I played was Morrowind (a few months ago) -- and the game hasn't been as fun as, say, Jak II, but with the (peaceful) resolution of Bloodlines it felt like the world and the lore really began to open up to me, I felt a sense of both accomplishment and (pleasant) immersion. I've also done a bit of the main quest and will note that this game isn't afraid to kick your ass.

On a different note, given that the last game I played like this was Morrowind I keep expecting to see an option to press the white button to remove a carcass from the game once you've searched it.

My adventure in EO3 continues: I took my level fourteen team and went through Stratum 1, level two and cleared out four F.O.E.'s in a row, opening up most of the second level to me. I mapped out everything barring a door that is inaccessible at this time in the same run and picked up a couple of new side quests on the way back. I felt like a badass. I love this game. Etrian Odyssey IV has honestly became my most anticipated game of 2013. I thought that only getting one point at a time when leveling would drive me crazy but it's actually a lot of fun to strategize for what I'll need in the future and analyze my characters as I progress to see what area needs the most immediate attention and try to work on that. Onto level 3!

Took down AssCreed 2. Started it over the summer and ended up finishing it this past week. Really fun game, and free running is my fav activity ever. Huge info dump there at the end, but I kinda expected most of it, what from the hints and some spoilers I read. The last sequence with Desmond was pretty dope though; I hope there'll be more of that in the future.

Started Disgaea on PSP. The character design is effin' creepy, the storyline makes me cringe and some of the mechanics seem a bit obtuse, but for some reason I'm pretty addicted. I've just finished chapter 1, so we'll see...

Got Pokemon White 2 as an early Christmas gift this weekend - I haven't played any of the 5th-gen Pokemon games yet. Shortly after getting the game, myself and two friends had a "let's sit around and trade Pokemon" party and now I have all three starters, a Deino, a Gothita, a Vullaby, and and DURANT. All of them are level 1 babies bred by my one particular Pokemon-obsessed friend, and are either un-catchable in White 2 or unavailable until the post-game. Mostly I wanted a Pokemon named DURANT.

...I don't know if I'll go whole hog into White 2 the same way I did into Diamond (Pokedex around 470-475, decent EV-trained Sandstorm stall team), but I'll definitely play it like a normal RPG and check out the new Pokemon in the new generation. So far I haven't caught anything particularly cool (only 2 badges in), but I like a lot of the small surface changes that the game has made.

Edit: I should mention that after the game was gifted to me, one if my friends INSISTED that I use Durant and a second Pokemon that I won't name. Durant because my friend and I both love basketball, and the second Pokemon because it is almost EXACTLY my last name. Seriously, remove one letter and it's my name exactly. Paul said: "man you have to use ____." Your name is right there!" Turns out it's a pretty good Pokemon once it evolves and I can catch it without much trouble. So why not?

Finished the first SW - Knights of the Old Republic, great game (and I'm not even a fan of the SW franchise). Unfortunately I already knew what was the big twist, but the exposition was awesome nonetheless. Overall it's like proto Mass Effect 1, which can only be a good thing. Shame what happened to Bioware.

Looking forward to KOTOR2 with the restoration mod. Let's see what Obsidian can come up with (aside from bugs).